Mansfield Motorsports Speedway is for sale. Michael Dzurilla, who once saved the track from sheriff’s auction, has owned the half-mile oval on Crall Road for three years. But the Cleveland-area businessman who relocated to Ashland cannot continue in his role. “I lost too much money,” he said. Dzurilla, 47, invested more than $17 million in upgrades, while maintaining Bullet Motorsports, a high-profile yet unsponsored NHRA Pro Stock drag racing team. MMS took a financial hit on both UAW-GM Ohio 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races the last two springs. While both races were sold out, they didn’t take in enough to offset the cost for NASCAR’s sanctioning, the costs to bring in temporary bleachers, and the costs to bring in personnel to run the race. Dzurilla wouldn’t divulge figures, saying only each of those expenses were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This year, temporary bleachers in Turn 1 were wiped out by the weather, which canceled Friday’s concerts and fireworks show. MMS crew and volunteers worked through the night to clear the debris and get the track race ready, but cold weather and on-and-off rain delayed qualifying and made Saturday’s attendance less than a typical weekly show. The May 15 race drew 25,000 fans, but cool temperatures hurt concessions. Dzurilla said they made just $30,000 on Sunday sales, far from what was expected. Last year’s qualifying was completely wiped out by rain and the race, while attended by 20,000 fans, was also on a cool day. Dzurilla said he doesn’t want to file for bankruptcy, so he’s putting the track up for sale and shutting down Bullet Motorsports, despite the team sitting third in the championship with 22-year-old Dave Connolly in their Chevrolet. It costs about $1.5 million to run a full season in NHRA’s Pro Stock division.(Mansfield News Journal)(5-25-2005)
